Aloha and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I hope the New Year has started off great! We have been very busy over the past month. In mid December we drove around the mountain, Mauna Kea, with some friends of ours on a road called the Mana Road. It was beautiful! There were so many great things to see – we could see snow on top of the mountain, we drove through areas that reminded us being in northern Wisconsin, we saw Nene geese, the state bird (pronounced na-na, with a long a) we saw lots of dead trees that made interested pictures (I think there was a fire up there not too long ago.) We saw cows and horses. Most of the road was dirt, and in some areas the road split, so the “boys” had fun racing to see who could make it back to the main road first. Some people just never grow up! :-) We had a lot of fun and it was great getting to know our friends better.
Jenna and I had our Christmas programs. Jenna had one at school. They all did great. I think my favorite part was when the kids sang Silent Night in English, Hawaiian and Japanese. That was pretty cool! We both sang in the choir at our church, and Jenna also participated in the children’s program. She was an angel and had to recite a few bible verses, but after doing Annie, Jr., I think it was a breeze for her!
Christmas for us was a little different. Of course the biggest difference2 were that it was 80 degrees and we weren’t with family! We decided to make new traditions, our OWN traditions. AJ had the idea of going up on top of the mountain to play in the snow. So, we got up early on Christmas morning and drove about 1-1/2 hours to the top of the mountain. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold – only about 44 degrees and no wind. Unfortunately there wasn’t much snow, and what was there, had mostly turned into ice. But, we took along our little one foot Christmas tree and took some pictures. We found a small patch of snow/ice and decided to ride down the hill on our boogie boards. Jenna and AJ did great! I crashed and hurt my shoulder and ribs, but fortunately the pain only lasted a few days and then I was better! After being on the mountain, we went to the beach. I didn’t realize EVERYBODY would be at the beach on Christmas day! WOW! We couldn’t go to the beach we wanted because we couldn’t find a place to park. So, we went to another beach not far from there. It wasn’t quite as nice, but it was OK. It was better than being cold, that’s for sure!! Jenna and I made a “sandman.” We think he turned out pretty good. I’ve posted a few pictures. After the beach we went to some friends house for a late lunch/early dinner. We didn’t stay too long because we went home to call our families on Skype. It was so great to see everyone! Of course, in person would have been better, but by video is better than not at all! My niece and nephew thought it was pretty cool to see us that way – or maybe they just liked seeing themselves on the camera, I’m not sure!! :-) It was fun to see everyone and I hope we can all talk like that more throughout the year.
New Years Day was moving day! We worked really hard the weeks and days leading up to January 1st, and I am so glad we did! We had 21 people show up to help us move, and 10 different vehicles moving stuff (8 trucks, a car and a van!) It was absolutely amazing!! It was like a tornado came down on the house, picked everything up and moved it to our new house. We started about 8:45 and we were done moving everything to the new house by 11:00. The cleaners finished about 11:30. I couldn’t believe how fast it went. Thankfully we were ready and had all the boxes labeled because there was NO time for last minute packing!! Now we are slowly unpacking, deciding where we want things, sorting, and getting rid of stuff. It’s surprising how much we have accumulated in just two years! We feel very blessed to have so many friends willing to help us and even more blessed that we have such a lovely home. We can’t wait for you all to see it, so get your reservations in! :-)
The busy times and big moments don’t stop there! Our little Jenna (or maybe not so little anymore) turned 10 on January 6th. It is so hard to believe that 10 years has gone by so fast! She is growing up and is such a great girl! She’s a joy to us and full of so much love and laughter. I have a funny story to share… I have been letting her sleep in my bed because AJ is at a bee convention in Texas right now. The night before her birthday, I was telling her that she was born at 2:23am, and I asked her if she wanted me to set the alarm and wake her up. She declined. BUT, she just happened to wake up at 2am, so she kept herself awake until 2:20, then she said she sat up in bed and stared at the clock until 2:23am. Then she woke me up, saying “Mom, Mom, look at the clock!” I looked and saw that it was 2:23! I wished her a happy birthday and just had to laugh when she told me what happened. She’s so funny sometimes. I hope you all have lots of love and laughter throughout this New Year! Until next time…aloha!
